Working 9 til 5?

The sewing machines are running overtime, fingers are bleeding, heads are hurting and nerves are at the end of their tether. Students are working 12 hour days to get their collections ready in time, enrolling the help of friends and family to stitch, sew and fix. The workshops and studios are a complete mess but awash with creativity and very loud music to keep the volunteers awake.

Cat Hill campus is filled to the brim with energy and passion. Patterns are scattered over the workshop floors, countless water bottles and chocolate wrappers cover the worktops and there's so many pieces of material floating around you could easily make Joseph another Technicolour Dreamcoat. It's this time of year that the hard work pays off. There's less than a week to go until the big unveil of the fashion show!

The fashion students aren't automatically eligable to display their work at the Art & Design Degree Show - around twenty students are chosen from the courses to partake in the fashion show and Graduate Fashion Week. But before they can do this, they have to create a brand new collection to showcase at the events. This is where the stress begins!

Some of the snaps below really sum up what the atmosphere is like at the moment, and all the hard work which is going into preparing for next Thursday.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

As it’s nearly the weekend, and therefore time to party, we’ve got the perfect excuse for some bling. Myia Bonner, a student of Middlesex’s BA Jewellery degree, has created a collection that wouldn’t look out of place on the dancefloor this Saturday night.

Her collection is based around every girl’s best friend, the iconic diamond, its form and how we identify it. Each piece is worked by hand, giving every diamond design a rarity similar to the stone itself. The materials she used are predominantly precious (mainly silver and gold-plated brass,) echoing the idea that a diamond is treasured and highly valued. This means you can have something precious without the huge bill!

Myia’s collection will be on display at the Art & Design Degree Show from next Thursday. For more information visit her website www.myiabonner.co.uk (coming soon)

The Many Faces of Panda Parker

On a trip up to our Cat Hill campus this week I had the pleasure of meeting one of the University's up-and-coming designers by the name of Panda Parker. (And with a name so fabulous, she just has to be a designer!)

Panda is studying BA Fashion Design and busy preparing for the forthcoming Art & Design Degree Show, where her final designs will be showcased next Thursday. Her collection was inspired by the hot topic of global warming and imagining a world with changeable and extreme weather – therefore her clothing had to be versatile. This led to designs which include a dress with removable leggings, a top with crotchless chaps and a playsuit which turns into a jacket.


Even the design of the pattern is inspirational. From a distance this may look like a form of tie-dye, when in fact up close you can see it’s a montage of faces. Spooky! Panda took the inspiration of a modern camouflage and wanted her models to look like someone else. She photocopied the faces of some willing (very good!) friends to create the imaginative and cutting edge pattern that looks great on everybody. The collection also contains face-inspired bags and hats to top of the look. I can’t wait for a high-street retailer to pick these designs up so I can nab one for myself...

Panda has always wanted to be a fashion designer and is hoping to one day to have her own label, but for the meantime she’s extremely busy preparing for next weeks show and completing her collection. Make sure you pick up a copy of tomorrow’s Metro newspaper – one of Panda’s pieces has even been chosen to represent the talent on offer at Graduate Fashion Week. Good luck Panda!

Punch Above Your Weight

The Art & Design Degree Show is a great event that really kick-starts the career of many new artists. Last year one of our most successful students was Inzajeano Latif. His photography work has since been displayed across London and even on the cover of a book. His thoughts below express what the show is all about and what he has gained from taking part.

“The Middlesex University degree show was a great platform for a student such as myself to showcase the final BA series that I had really put my heart and soul into. It attracts many people for the industry and was a great place to network and really put yourself out there!

The series I did entitled 'Female Boxers' was what I displayed at the show and the space we had was pretty amazing. The show gets you in the frame of mind as how to discuss your work with people within the arts industry. It sets you up for how things are in the real world and gives you an insight in how an exhibition is all set up. From organising your images to where you’re getting them framed, working out costs and how to get the best deal you can. It also encourages you to take yourself seriously. We make postcards and business cards, we work on our portfolio, all of which is displayed at the degree show. Let's make no mistake about it, we are competing with thousands of other students who want the same thing so you need to do something that makes you stand out!


I was lucky in the fact that I had exhibited in a few other galleries so I utilised what I learnt from that into the degree show which really helped. I realised from the show what direction I wanted to go in within photography and to this day I am still passionate more than ever about portraiture. I am doing my MA at Middlesex University and have a couple of exhibitions lined up as well.

Previous to this 'Female Boxer No3' was selected for the Taylor Wessing portrait prize 2009 and was also displayed across the capital and was used as the front cover of the book. Publicity like this has allowed be to talk to big galleries about my work and exhibiting. I have also been approached by major European photographic agencies in regards to advertising work but most of all it has allowed me to continue making work that I am passionate about, work that can move people across the world.

I hope to one day have a solo exhibition at the Nationals Portrait Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art in New York not to mention a few other great galleries across the globe. If you would like to get in touch or look at my work you can do so via info@inzajeano.com and www.Inzajeano.com”

Specs Appeal

Nicola Williams is one of our great students studying BA Jewellery and as part of this course she's designed an iconic range of leather sunglasses.

"This collection celebrates the versatility of leather as a material, whilst exploring the functionality of sunglasses - inviting the wearer to wear them on the head or over the eyes," she says.

Her design makes use of a detachable visor and the leather material enables the glasses to be worn on the head, without snagging of the hair (which we all know is incredibly annoying!)

Her website showcases the whole range, plus some nifty 'Rose Tinted Hair Specs'! Check out www.nicolakwilliams.com

Nicola will be displaying her collection at the Art & Design Degree Show from 3rd June.

Website of the day...

BA Sonic Arts Degree is an unusual and exciting programme encompassing history, aesthetics, contemporary technologies (such as interactive systems, sound generation-transformation and interfacing), relationships with visual and other media, sound-as-art, installation art, sonic sculpture, multimedia, sound design and performance. Above all, Sonic Arts focusses upon the actual making and presentation of sound artworks.

The great work of the Sonic Arts students will be ondisplay as part of our Art & Design Degree Show. This website showcases some of the work completed by students on the degree over the last few years... http://www.sonicartists.org/

MDX Fashion Show - 23rd April

Not everyone automatically gets to showcase their work at the Art & Design Degree Show. There's an intense selection process to ensure that only the best of the best is showcased at the Truman Brewery. (Plus we couldn't fit everybody in!)

On the 23rd April Middlesex University hosted a 'first round' fashion show at the Hendon Campus where there was a great deal of talent on display. The event was hugely successful and we received glowing reports from all those who came on the night.

Here are a few of the designs that were seen on the catwalk... is there a potential star amongst them?

Only 2 weeks to go!

There's only two weeks left until our Degree Show is unveiled to super excited members of the press, industry, MDX staff, students peers and colleagues. There's still so much to do before this happens though! Our students are collating all their ideas and three year's worth of hard work and impatiently preparing for the biggest night of their lives so far.

Here are a few more sneaky preview pics of what to expect at the show... I hope you can join us there.






Images courtesy of (top-bottom)
Kimbo Silver - BA Fine Art
James Oses Middlesex - BA Illustration
Rossana Pingin - BA Photography

We're now on facebook!

Today we've uploaded an 'event' on facebook so you can spread the word to your friends, family and colleagues.

Join us here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122948941063397&ref=mf

Our website is now fully up and running to, so for more details go to: www.mdx.ac.uk/degreeshow

Website of the day...

This website has been developed and created by the students on the BA Fine Art degree and it looks fab: http://www.mdxfineart2010.com/

Featuring everything from a Page 3 model with a camera for a head, to spock ears and mustaches with Pat Butcher thrown in for good measure the amazing students have left no fine art stone unturned.

My personal favourite has to include this amazing explosion of colour courtesy of Natasha Kiddle.

Check it out for yourselves and let us know what you think.

Sneaky peek at students' work

Work kindly provided by (top-bottom)
Nicola Williams - BA Jewelery
Miki Pentecost - BA Interior Architecture
Olivia Wardle - BA Photography
Konstantin Suslov - BA Photography
Itziar Lorente - BA Fine Art
Adam Cruft - BA illustration

2010 Art and Design Degree Show

In June over 450 final year Art and Design students from 13 different courses at Middlesex University will be exhibiting their best work and achievements at Middlesex’s Art and Design Degree Show. The show takes place at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane in central London - the hive of emerging culture and creativity in the capital.

“The Old Truman Brewery, East London's revolutionary arts and media quarter, is home to a hive of creative businesses as well as exclusively independent shops, galleries, markets, bars and restaurants. .. The finely tuned mix of business and leisure has created an environment unique in London, making the Old Truman Brewery a destination in its own right.”

Check out the unique venue: http://www.trumanbrewery.com/

The public show kicks off on Friday June 4th and continues until Monday June 8th.
More than 5,000 people will attend the Degree Show which showcases emerging talent and the next generation of artists and designers. This will include creative industry employers, gallery owners, journalists, photographers, TV crews, friends, family and members of the general public.

Opening hours of the public show are:
Friday 4th June: 10am-6pm
Saturday 5th June/Sunday 6th June: 10am-7pm
Monday 7th June: 10am-7pm

For more information visit our website: www.mdx.ac.uk/degreeshow